1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wound protecting and healing material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A gelatin sponge having thrombin fixed thereto has been known as a healing material to be applied to a wound site such as a cut, scratch, etc., an incision from a surgical operation, and a cavity left from a tooth extraction (Japanese Pat. No. 41111/70). The thrombin contained in the gelatin acts on the fibrinogen at the wound to form a fibrin mass and thus stops the bleeding. The fibrin formed in this manner is a non-stabilized fibrin which is soluble in acids, urea, etc. and is susceptible to decomposition by plasmin. Thus, healing is frequently very slow.
Blood coagulation Factor XIII is a known blood coagulating factor having the ability to stabilize fibrin [see C. G. Curtis, L. Lorand, Methods in Enzymology, 45, 177, Academic Press (1976)]. This factor acts directly on non-stabilized fibrin and participates in the formation of isopeptide linkages among the fibrin molecules. Blood coagulation Factor XIII has been formulated into commercially available preparations, but there has been no instance in which it has been fixed to the substrate of a wound healing material.